The Seguin City Council Tuesday night approved a three step approach in selecting the name for the voter approved community park slated for construction at the corner of Vaughan Street and San Antonio Avenue.

Seguin Mayor Don Keil says he is really excited that both the nomination and final vote will lie in the hands of the public.

"We are going to solicit by email and by over the internet, by voice mail, just some public input as to which name people prefer. That will give us a whole pool of names to work with. That's going to be over a period of about two weeks that we will accept those names from the public and then we, the city council, will get together in an informal setting. We’ll come up with five names that we can again present to the public for them to decide what the park should be because obviously, they're going to be coming from all over the place. There will be all kinds of names coming from various parts of the community, but it will be something that the community will be involved in since they voted for this. It's a community park. It belongs to the whole city. It gives the whole town an opportunity to be part of the naming of it," said Keil.

Proposing the naming process to the city was Seguin's Public Information Officer Scott Packard. After learning about the idea, Packard knew he had to implement it here in Seguin.

"I was at a conference last month, The Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers and the public information folks at League City, Texas which is down in Galveston County, told me about this. They had a park they were renaming. (It) was a veterans park. They laid this idea out to me, said it worked great for them. They had a lot of good feedback on it and public participation and they said it's just a great way to go about naming the facilities. So I immediately borrowed that idea from them and we are going to try it here," said Packard.

As Mayor Keil mentioned, the remaining names will again be presented for a public vote via e-mail, voicemail or in-person just by visiting Seguin City Hall. Only one vote per person will be accepted. Participants will be required to provide their name, address and contact information to vote. The voting period will also be two weeks.

Packard says the rules for nominating a name are simple.

"There's a city policy for naming public facilities. Really, the main thing in that policy is that the name of a public facility can not be for a living person. So that's the biggest thing we need people to understand is the name you suggest can't be for a living person. Otherwise that idea is going to be tossed aside right off the bat. The city policy for naming facilities is really pretty open aside from the living person name. You can't do that. You can suggest the name of a person who has served the city of Seguin. You can suggest after any local, state or national heroic figure -- any person who you feel deserves to have this park named after them. You can suggest a name that includes a geographic area, a residential facility, there's really no limit. Of course, anything vulgar will not be considered. That'll be tossed out right off the bat. We don't have time to mess with that," said Packard.

Packard says the name that receives the most votes will be presented to Seguin City Council for final approval. The person who submitted the winning name will also be recognized. He says the naming of the new skate park is not included in this process and will be held at a later date.

In November 2013, voters approved $5 million in bonds to build the new community park and make improvements to existing parks. The new park will be located on what is commonly known as the Hoermann property, a 48-acre site on the city's west side. The project will include athletic fields, a playground, splash pad, pavilion, picnic tables, nature trails, restrooms and concessions.

Packard says he hopes to have the voting system and all the details in place by Monday. Until then, city officials are asking that individuals begin jotting notes and generating their own ideas.